19 March 1945 "The Spoils of War?" (Post #102)

GETTING READY FOR

The 15th Field Artillery Battalion Advancements

Action continued light and on March 4th, as another attack began, the battalion moved through Dreiborn to Wollseifen and crossed the Roer to Hergarten the following day March 5. The battle had become a pursuit and after firing on tanks and fleeing horse-drawn vehicles the battalion made a double displacement on March 6th, terminated by a night occupation of positions near Bergheim. During the march on the following day the battalion took hasty positions twice to attack tanks and enemy infantry and finally closed into Bouderath, the first town in Germany for which the 15th Field Artillery was completely responsible. A burgermeister was appointed and all materials of war were collected. Enemy artillery fire during the day destroyed the liaison jeep with the 9th Infantry Regiment. Harassing towns prior to their entry by our infantry troops, the battalion moved at noon on March 8th to Mutscheid.

With a shattering of enemy resistance the 15th Field Artillery began a 33-mile night march over rough routes and arrived in Konigstall early on March 10th, taking positions north of town. Moving again in the afternoon against a stiff rear guard action the battalion went into position in Franken and infantrymen of CBT 9 closed on the west bank of the Rhine River to form the north face of a large pocket of several enemy divisions trapped west of the Rhine. Considerable enemy air activity was noted over the area attempting to bomb the Remagen Bridge. Observers established in castles high above the Rhine looked down the enemy's throat and caught all enemy movements in the low-lying towns on the east bank. For several days the battalion continued to support the expanding Remagen bridgehead by fire until its turn came to cross the last river barrier to inner Germany. (The 2nd Infantry Division seized Gemünden on 4 March 1945, reached the Rhine on 9 March and then Breisig on 10 March before assuring custody of the Ludendorff bridge from 12 to 20 March 1945.)
[From 15th FAB YEARBOOK]

March 19, 1945

Dear Mother,

     Just a note along with this package I'm sending.

     All the things inside the bundle with the helmet are part of a youth uniform found inside a small building behind some houses. Inside the building was a two wheel cart, hand down with a reel of  small fire hose like the old fashion type hose reels we once saw years ago. There was also a small amount of firefighting equipment. In a plain wooden locker were all these uniform, helmets, and a bag to carry over the shoulder which held a mask (intended for a smoke mask but just like the German gas mask). The bag and mask were of a brown shade and hanging in the lockers were brown jackets which looked like plain work jackets. 

     As you notice the outfits had plenty of color (attractive to the youth eyes). The suit cloth was a dark blue, very neatly made. Around the collar, cuffs, and pockets etc. was a piping of the same red.

     Some of them were made for very small boys, this helmet being one of the larger and more fancy than the others. I guess as they worked up, more was added to their dress outfit.

     All this seems to me like a very good camouflage due to one fact. Behind the building I found a silhouette full size of a man's head and shoulders with an outline of a helmet. This was nailed to a small stake for standing in the ground. You could find many bullet holes which had been checked off with a pencil but here is what I'm coming to. The helmet outline was that of a G.I. From all this you may form your own opinion.

     The silk is that of a German supply parachute which was found when at one time they tried to drop some equipment to their front lines but made a mistake and overshot. Maybe you could work it into a pillow top or something else.

     The white cord is from a German pilot and I saw him, on Christmas Day, jump from his plane after it had been shot up and set afire.

     Here are some stamps for the collection and also German money with a few others mixed in. 

     The rest are insignias from caps, shoulders and pockets but they were taken at different times and I can't name the places. 

                               Charles

The Ludendorff Railroad Bridge at Remagen

The 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, Combat Command B, 9th Armored Division, discovered that the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen in the First Army area was still standing and passed the word back to the Combat Command B commander, Brigadier General William M. Hoge, a former engineer officer. General Hoge ordered the immediate capture of the bridge, and Advance to the Rhine soldiers of the 27th became the first invaders since the Napoleonic era to set foot on German soil east of the Rhine. Crossings in other army areas followed before the month was. over leading to the rapid defeat of Hitler's armies in a few short weeks.

http://atloa.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Rhine-River-Crossings.pdf